[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12611-12612]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ZIKA VIRUS FUNDING

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I have been listening carefully to my 
friends on the other side of the aisle. Zika is truly an epidemic. It 
is terrifying young families all across the country who are worried 
their babies might be born with a birth defect. We are working hard to 
fund the creation of a vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention tells us that is likely to happen in the next year and a 
half.
  It takes a certain amount of creativity for the Democratic Senators 
to come to the floor and complain about the Senate not doing our job on 
Zika funding when three separate times the majority leader and 
Republicans have offered $1.1 billion in funding for Zika, and the 
Democratic Senators have refused to allow a vote.
  Let me say that again. Republican Senators had offered $1.1 billion 
in funding for Zika early in the summer, at a time when mosquitoes were 
flying, and the Democratic Senators have said: No, you can't even vote 
on it. This $1.1 billion, passed by the House, we are ready to vote on 
it here, and they have said no.
  Let's be straight up about this. We regard it as an urgent problem. 
Three times we have brought it up. We are ready to vote again if that 
is what we need to do.
  (The remarks of Mr. Alexander pertaining to the introduction of S. 
3326 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak, I 
suppose out of turn. I understand the Republicans, the majority, have 
control of the floor. I ask unanimous consent to

[[Page 12612]]

speak for 10 minutes, since there are no other majority Senators.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, through the Chair, may I ask a 
question, which would be that Republican minutes will be----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator state his inquiry?
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Republican minutes be preserved for Senator Thune.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator from Delaware so modify his 
request?
  Mr. CARPER. I am not sure what the Senator from Tennessee is saying.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, following the Senator from Delaware, I 
ask unanimous consent that whatever Republican minutes are remaining 
would be reserved for Senator Thune.
  Mr. CARPER. That will be fine. I have absolutely no objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. I thank the Senator from Delaware for his courtesy.
  Mr. CARPER. I thank the Senator from Tennessee. As he knows, I am a 
huge fan of his. I have been for a long time. I respect him as a 
colleague, I respected him as a Governor, and I respected him long 
before that when he was a principal aide to Howard Baker, who was one 
of the greatest Senators who served in this body in the last century.
  He and I agree on a lot. We work on a lot of things together, and it 
has been a source of real joy for me.

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